Rohit Gurunath Sharma (Marathi:रोहित गुरुनाथ शर्मा) (born 30 April 1987, in Bansod, Nagpur, Maharashtra) is an Indiancricketer. Sharma is a right-handed middle-order batsman and occasional right-arm offbreak bowler. Having started his international playing career at the age of 20, Sharma quickly exhibited his athletic fielding and cool temperament to compliment his graceful strokeplay. He is pegged by many analysts to be a permanent fixture on the Indian cricket team in the next decade.[1].

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Early life

Rohit Sharma is of Telugu origin and born to parents from Andhra Pradesh. His mother Purnima Sharma hails from Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh [2]. Sharma completed his primary education at Our Lady Of Vailankanni High School, Mumbai. He was later enrolled in the Swami Vivekanand International School[3] on a scholarship, after his talent was noticed by the school's cricket coach at a summer camp[1]. He excelled in the Giles and Harris Shield school cricket tournaments[1], after which he was selected for the Mumbai Under-17 team [1]. He was later chosen for India's Under-17 and Under-19 teams, and made his mark at the 2006 U-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka, finishing among the top run-getters in the tournament[4]. He was enrolled as a student at Rizvi College, Mumbai, before he was called up to the national side.

Playing career

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List A

Sharma made his List A debut for West Zone against Central Zone in the Deodhar Trophy in March 2006, at Gwalior[5]. It was his unbeaten innings of 142 in 123 balls against North Zone at Udaipur in the same tournament[6], that brought him into the limelight[7]. Performances for the India A sides in Abu Dhabi and Australia followed, leading to him being selected for the 30 member probables list for the Champions Trophy[7], although he did not make the final squad. This was before he had made his Ranji Trophy debut[7]. He was also selected for the Challenger Trophy.

First-class

Sharma at fielding practice.

Sharma made his First-class debut for India A against New Zealand A, at Darwin in July 2006[8]. He made his Ranji Trophy debut for his First-class side Mumbai in the 2006/2007 season. Though he was unable to contribute much in the initial matches,[9] he scored 205 off 267 balls in the match against Gujarat.[9]. Mumbai went on to win the tournament with Sharma scoring a 50 in the final against Bengal.[10].

Sharma eventually made his mark at the international stage on 20 September 2007, when he led India to victory by scoring an unbeaten 50 (which came off 40 deliveries) against South Africa in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20[12]. The win reserved India a berth in the semifinals of the tournament. At one stage India were 61-4, but his partnership of 85 runs with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni helped India to post a total of 153-5.[12]. He was eventually declared Man of the Match[12]. Sharma then proceeded to score 30 runs off 16 balls in the final against Pakistan[13].

Sharma scored his maiden ODI half-century against Pakistan, at Jaipur on 18 November 2007[14] and was selected as part of India's 16-man squad for the CB series in Australia[15]. Here, he scored 235 runs at an average of 33.57 with 2 fifties[16], including his score of 66 in the 1st final at Sydney[17] partnering Sachin Tendulkar for most of India's successful runchase.

However, Sharma's ODI performances suffered a downturn after this and his middle-order position was taken over by Suresh Raina, and eventually, Virat Kohli took his position as the reserve batsman.

In December 2009, Sharma scored a triple century in the Ranji Trophy and was recalled to the ODI team for the tri-nations tournament in Bangladesh as Tendulkar was being rested. However, Kohli and Raina were selected ahead of him in the playing eleven, and he did not play in any of India's five matches. In the meantime, he missed the Ranji Trophy final.

Indian Premier League

Sharma was signed up by the Deccan Chargers franchise for a sum of US$ 750,000 a year[18]. He was one of the leading run scorers in the 2008 IPL season with 404 runs at an average of 36.72[19]. He also held the coveted Orange Cap for a brief period.

Injury prevents Test debut

Sharma was called into the Indian Test team in February as the only reserve batsman, and when V. V. S. Laxman failed to recover from an injury, he was set to make his debut, but injured himself playing soccer in the warm-up on the first morning. It was too late to bring in a replacement batsman, so the reserve wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha had to play as a specialist batsman.